It is a chilling image that will go around the world - police taking aim at a woman in a hijab after a tip-off claiming she could have a bomb in her bag. It is not known if the holdall contained an explosive or not but officers were not taking any chances.
It seems the common people of England are willing to be suspicious of someone dressed in Muslim religious garb, and are willing to say something about it.
The incident is on-going eight hours after it started at the seafront in Saltburn, Teesside, today. Army bomb disposal experts are believed to be on site.
Cleveland Police have not yet confirmed the exact nature of the incident but said it was sparked after 'information' they received about the woman's conduct. They said the area has been cordoned off and they are concerned about the welfare of a woman.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a white woman wearing a dress with a veil sitting on a bench surrounded by armed police, who were alerted shortly after 11am. At 6.40pm, negotiations with her were still taking place.
Residents in Saltburn say they believe it is a woman local to the area.
A bomb disposal team have are also at the scene and a police helicopter has been scrambled. It is understood that a bag is being examined by bomb disposal experts and at one point the woman was face down on the ground as officers covered her with their weapons.
A cordon is in place and Saltburn bank has been shut to traffic.
Some locals claimed the woman had been to a hardware store in the town earlier in the day and purchased items. One, who did not want to be named, said: 'She doesn't say a lot, she's always walking around wearing a white hijab, she's white, My friend tried to say hello to her once, she just snapped at him. We heard she went to M and M DIY Home Improvement hardware store, trying to buy things to make a bomb apparently.'
Sales assistants at the store would not confirm that the woman had been to the shop, however a shopkeeper next door said she had been in the store earlier in the day.
Update 7:20 pm local time (same link):
According to police the 40-year-old woman was detained under the Mental Health Act.
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#1
If there was nothing to see it wouldn't have taken 8 hours. She was either being less than totally honest in her dealings with the police or there was something there. Perhaps not a bomb but something she didn't want found.
On the other side of things I'm amazed Cair hasn't adopted a plan to encourage these sort of things. Get enough Hijabs walking around acting suspicious with bags and you either (a) dull the population into accepting that until eventually they are no longer called in and one can take a bag bomb wherever needed (b) you get wonderful news coverage of the facists disarming innocent Mulsims because of their relgion. The result would be the same as police were told to back off and then bag bombs could circulate unimpeded.
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